I am a Tombstone Tourist: someone who loves to wander cemeteries. I find it akin to visiting a museum: an opportunity to enjoy rarely seen sculpture, intricate carvings, and amazing architecture, all in a tranquil outdoor setting. This blog is about cemetery culture, art, history, issues of death, and genealogy - subjects of current relevance. I usually find something that intrigues me and makes me want to dig deeper. Care to join me? Read on...

Friday, July 31, 2015

Twenty years ago the
Museum of Death opened in Hollywood. Now, another branch has opened in … where
else …the Big Easy. What a perfect location for some fairly graphic exhibits
that might make you queasy, but intrigued.

Kevorkian's Thanatron

Located in the
French Quarter of New Orleans, this macabre museum has hundreds of exhibits
including crime scene photos, funeral garments, letters written by serial
killers, items that belonged to Nicole Brown Simpson, and the
Thanatron; the suicide machine constructed by Dr. Jack Kevorkian to assist
those who wished to die. The machine was used over 130 times.

Co-founders Cathee
Shult and J.D. Healy first started the museum in California in 1995 for the
purpose of bringing those fears about death that we Americans have, out in the
open. Other cultures see dying as simply part of the cycle of life, but we fear
it, and avoid thinking about it, for the most part. This is our wake-up call.

The Museum of Death
is an in-your-face reminder that “this too, shall pass” and it offers up many
examples of just how death can occur. While there are no age limits at the
museum, they strongly recommend that "Mature Audiences" only attend.

Charles Manson

The NOLA Museum of Death has
numerous exhibits including Manson Family photos, morgue photos, body bags,
coffins, skulls, and execution items along with an exhibit on cannibalism, and
the Theatre of Death, where you can watch programs about all kinds of death.

The NOLA museum is
much larger than the one in Hollywood, and many exhibits here are in keeping with murders and events that have occurred in the state and southeast region. The Museum of Death in New Orleans had its officialgrand opening on June 1,
2015. It is open Wednesday through Monday, 10 am to 6 pm and closed
on Tuesdays; admission is $15 per person.

Many are not
prepared for what they’ll see at the museum. Several patrons have given the museum
a “Falling Ovation.” (In other words, they passed out.) This action warrants a Museum
of Death T-Shirt as a souvenir to remember them by.

Once you step out
into the bright daylight, you’ll be glad that you’re alive, and that, according
to the owners, is the whole point of the museum.

Friday, July 24, 2015

It was a cool Saturday morning as employees from
the Western Electric Company began boarding the SS Eastland, anchored in the Chicago River, for a company outing.
The day’s itinerary included a trip up the river for a refreshing escape to Michigan
City, Indiana and a company picnic in Washington Park. Instead, the day is
remembered as the worst nautical disaster to occur on any of the Great Lakes. The
date was July 24, 1915.

SS Eastland

The Eastland first
set sail as a passenger ship in May of 1903, but appears to have been burdened
with troubles from the beginning. During a public reception that spring, the
ship began to list uncontrollably from side to side. The reason? Too many
people had congregated on the upper decks. The steam ship was divested of
passengers and the problem corrected, but many felt that the Eastland had a dangerous design flaw,
and that things would only get worse.

Eastland Ready To Board

One year later, with 3,000 people on board, the ship
again began to tilt port to starboard. Passengers panicked, but the crew
regained control of the Eastland with
no harm done. The listing problem resurfaced again in 1906 with 2,500 people on
board, and again in 1912 with 2,400 passengers aboard.

Court Proceedings

In March 1915, the federal Seaman’s Act was
enacted in order to increase the safety and security of US seamen; it included
the caveat that a ship must carry enough lifeboats to hold all passengers and
crew. The law came about because of the RSS
Titanic disaster, which had occurred three years before.

Listing Ship

The Eastland complied with the ruling, but the
added weight of the additional lifeboats made the passenger ship even more top
heavy. Many feared that because of this additional weight ships would
become ungainly and there would be more problems.

Boarding

Excitement was in the air that July morning as
over 5,000 men, women and children, many Polish and Czech immigrants, boarded
five boats that had been chartered for their daylong adventure. Among the ships
ready to sail was the “Speed Queen of the Great Lakes:” the Eastland.

On Her Side

Reports indicated that the ship, still tied to the
dock, began easing away about 7:10 a.m. with 2,572 passengers on board. It slowly
slipped about 40 feet out into the river, listing slightly. Then, at 7:28 it
lurched to port (left) and capsized, rolling on it's side and coming to rest in
20 feet of water at 7:30 a.m.

Survivors

Mayhem ensued as passengers above deck were thrown into
the river. Those below were struck by heavy, careening furniture - a
piano, bookcases and tables, which slammed into passengers, crushing them amid the rushing
waters. Others suffocated when people were thrown on top of one another and they could
not regain their footing. (Those desperately fought for life vests and boats
were of no use here - there had not been enough warning for passengers and crew
to use them.)

A Victim

The river was teaming with people trying to escape.
Eyewitnesses said that the screams were what they remembered the most vividly. A
total of 844 passengers died, including 22 families
that were wiped out; four crew members were also killed in the disaster.
Many died from their injuries; many more because they couldn’t swim.

The Morgue

The bodies were taken to several temporary morgues
set up around the river. Hundreds of bodies were laid out in the Second
Regiment Armory where families lined up to identify their loved ones. Some bodies
were never identified; officials said that these may have been more families
that all died together with no one was left to claim their remains.

New Memorial

Bohemian National Cemetery

The largest number of the dead; 134 were buried in
Bohemian National Cemetery, on Chicago’s northwest side. The stones can be
identified by the date: July 24, 1915 and/or the words “obet Eastland” or “Victim of
the Eastland.” A granite memorial dedicated to the victims was unveiled
here two weeks ago and can be found in section 16. Details concerning the disaster,
and information about the gravesites are included on a plaque located next to
the memorial

Grand Jury

A grand jury ruled the cause of the disaster to be
“conditions of instability” due to “an overloading of passengers, mishandling
of water ballasts or construction of the ship.” The ship’s captain and engineer
were charged with criminal carelessness, and the ship’s company president and
three officers were indicted for manslaughter. The presiding judge then changed
the charges to “conspiracy to operate an unsafe ship.”

USS Wilmette

In Memory

The ship was raised later that year. It was recommissioned in 1918 and named the USS Wilmette; it served in both world wars. In 1945, the Wilmette was decommissioned, and scrapped out in 1947. The ship's largest loss of life: July 24, 1915 when 844 people lost their lives in the Chicago River ...

Friday, July 10, 2015

Today,
it seems that our lives are so scheduled there is little leeway for an abrupt
need for time away. That’s why online funerals are becoming more popular, and
more accepted.

While
we might desire to attend a service in person, many times that isn’t an option,
but attending virtually permits others a chance to participate and mourn.

Attending
a service via a private webcast allows family and friends from far away the ability to see and hear the service in the privacy of their own homes. An online
funeral also lets the elderly, those in hospitals, or serving in the military,
an opportunity to still be a part of the remembrance service.

So
how does it work? A tiny unobtrusive camera mounted at the rear of the chapel
films the funeral service. The camera is linked to a computer with software
that allows the video to be streamed live. Those attending virtually sign
in with a password to attend the services. Memorial programs are available online, and a printed version
can be made later. When mourners arrive at the cemetery, GPS
can locate the gravesite, and others who wish to visit can use these coordinates
later.

One
caveat to a virtual funeral is that the service can be viewed at the attendee’s
convenience, not necessarily when it is actually being held. In fact,
research indicates that family and friends who physically attended the service also view it online, many watching numerous times. Death is a distracting and numbing event, but by recording
the service, family members can revisit it, giving them a chance to remember
happenings they might have missed. Funeral homes may
archive the service and make it accessible for viewing for up to six months.

Most
people who have utilized webcast funerals expressed satisfaction at being able
to have those far away join the family at the funerals - making it a true family
experience.

But
does this sound the death keel for funeral homes and traditional services? Most
funeral directors think not. After all, a funeral service is for remembering
and sharing. It is about the human experience, remembering the deceased and
supporting the loved ones left behind.

A
virtual funeral just opens up another way for those who could not have attended
in person to also have closure, allowing “the
sorrows of one to become the sorrows of many.”

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